


The breath of the Shadow

by LuceLawliet



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst, F/M, Light Sadism, Love, Passion
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-27
Updated: 2018-02-17
Packaged: 2019-02-22 14:14:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13168647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LuceLawliet/pseuds/LuceLawliet
Summary: That boy, in front of her... that boy with that contagious smile and angel's face, was nothing but a demon. [...]"You know, we don't have kings in Neverland, and even if there were, it'd be be me... But seeing what you've made of, you could have been the perfect queen...you could have been."She herself had, even if for a short while, the feeling that this was her perfect world. She had flown over an endless ocean, listened to the mermaid's songs, saw the fairies in the woods and played with the other children brought to the island, after her.But all this happenedbeforemermaids, once she went close, tried to drown her;beforediscovering that some fairies used to create hidden paths that led to endless crags, with their light, only to see children falling down, since only their dust could grant the power to fly; but above all,beforethe Shadow became violent, as soon as one of the children tried to leave the island.





	1. Yet the Shadow knew what to do...

“I only said males!”  
A sudden blow, and the grip on Wendy's arm suddenly disappeared, dropping the child onto the dusty ground.  
It smelled of moss and loneliness.  
_Lost._  
Only she, a small and delicate little figure with an ivory-colored nightgown, a lost girl in the middle of all those hooded specters, their shining eyes under the flames of the bonfire.  
She looked up and saw the tall one, the one who had grabbed her so brutally, bent over himself, pressing his lips against the back of his hand.  
There was a mist of darkness and shadows all around her.  
The trees above her head crunched, threatening to graze her with those bare and gnarled branches, and the breeze that until a few minutes before had cradled her, as she flew with her reflection in the flat waves of Neverland's ocean, was become colder and more violent; it made the flames of the bonfire crackle and hissed through the branches of the trees, as if the banshee of which her fairytale books were talking were shouting all their pain, in premonition of what would soon happen.  
Wendy had the courage to get up only when she realized that she was the object of the attention of all those hooded faces that surrounded her. She could not see them, but she could feel their gaze on her.  
Only one didn't wear the black cloak.  
Only one wasn't keeping a distance from her.  
The same one who hit that boy in the face.  
And then Wendy saw him.  
He looked older than she was. Yes, but how much? A few years, no more.  
Yet something inside of her suggested the exact opposite, otherwise how could one explain the new attitude he had just performed, reducing others to the most absolute silence?  
Wendy started too late to understand; there was something terribly wrong with that island, and all she wanted in that moment was never to have set foot in it.  
Why had she been subjugated in this way by the Shadow?!  
She had been so kind, that it had been impossible for Wendy to resist. 

**

_She still remember the journey to Neverland, the Shadow’s hold on her wrists, as he twirls her, coming to touch the top of Big Ben – did I see wrong or it scores 8.15?, the thought touches her mind only for a second, and then get lost with her in a stretch of clouds. She can touch them, they have the same consistency as cotton candy. For Wendy everything is so beautiful, that she’s wondering if the destination is not by chance Paradise._  
But the Shadow suddenly diverts.  
They are climbing higher and higher, and Wendy has the impression that despite the apparent zigzag in the clouds, they are following a clear path.  
"Where are you taking me?" she loudly says, trying to get over the whistling sind, that is getting louder and louder as their speed increases.  
She already knows that the Shadow will not answer her; until now he has not said a word. But they have already communicated so many times.  
Wendy sees he gives up on her left wrist, holding her with one arm, and lift the free one to point to something, an indistinct point in the sky.  
Is he pointing to a star?  
Maybe.  
Here, now the Shadow tilts to the right.  
Wendy no longer asks questions, she limits herself to see as many things as possible, and happily laughing when the Shadow writhes, making her spin in the air, like the most graceful and splendid among the dancers.  
Before the child realizes it, they have continued straight until morning, and now that she looks down she understands that she is no longer in London, or in any other city of England.  
Here it is only the infinite expanse of the sea, and the first rays of dawn that warm the face. The breeze carries with it a scent that Wendy doesn’t recognize and the Shadow goes down, so that the young girl’s feet play with the water, raising warm splashes.  
What are those creatures that jump behind her?  
Dolphins?  
And Wendy's eyes widen with emotion, when she understands with amazement that those aren’t dolphins, but mermaids.  
Even from there she can see the blue-gold scales that shine like jewels in the sunlight, and their long dark hair, while they compete with the Shadow, to see who will first reach the island.  
Right, the island.  
The closer they are, the more dawn light is obscured by wooded hills, and Wendy begins to feel the grip on her wrists give way; the shadow descends again a dozen meters, and then let her go.  
The impact with the sand is soft, but Wendy still fails to maintain balance and ends up on her knees, rather close to the border between the beach and the forest.  
She remains motionless for a few seconds, looking around.  
The light is almost completely gone and all she can hear are the chants of the finches and the crashing of the waves against the rocks.  
She stands up, taking care to remove the lumps of sand from her nightgown, and then settle the clasp that collects her hair on the sides, - like a good, little lady - as her mother always says.  
Well... maybe the place is a bit too quite, but it's incredibly big after all, isn’t it?  
All she needs is to venture into those trees and who knows, maybe Wendy would have seen other wonderful things, like other mermaids, and she would have met someone to play with, maybe.  
Therefore, it would be polite to thank the Shadow; it’s only because of him if Wendy can finally say that it was worth it to believe in all her fantasy stories; at the end she’s relieved not to have listened to her parents, when they repeated that she was already thirteen and it was time to become an adult... but now she finally can live her own adventure.  
This is what she thinks enthusiastically, before turning around.  
But the Shadow is no longer there. 

**

"I'm sorry, Baelfire." she whispered, regretting with all of herself that she had not listened to the boy.  
Had he not warned her not to approach the Shadow?  
Had he not warned her that magic always comes with a price?  
Now she would have to pay for it.  
For almost all the time she had looked at the ground, for fear of crossing any of the faces of those strangers, but then she saw the boy's dirty and ruined boots approaching.  
"Yet the Shadow knew what to do" he stopped right in front of her, looking at her with suspicion. "Why did he take you?"  
"I don’t know" she decided to talk, finally. After all, he was just a boy, she would ask him for explanations and ...  
No.  
Wendy thought back to Bealfire, John, Michael. To her mother.  
She decided that the explanations didn’t interest her so much; she just wanted to leave.  
"But when he comes back, I'll let him take me again, so I can go home, since… since I'm not the one you're looking for."  
A low, agitated murmur caught her by surprise.  
The tall hooded figures approached a few steps. Only then the girl noticed some of them were armed; some of them wielded a long stick with a sharp point, a quiver, and in less than a second the fear took over.  
"When he'll come back, you say?" The boy repeated her words, with a veil of irony. "He will come only if call, and trust me, you don’t want me to do it."  
At the word "home", the boy stiffened, and Wendy didn’t take long before she started to be assailed by a doubt.  
At first it was only an imperceptible suspicion, nothing more, but then she clearly saw that, against the powerful light of the fire, the boy in front of her had no shadow.  
Wendy swallowed, looking at him with different eyes. If all the fairy tales she had read as a child were true ...  
"Oh!" The boy tapped his forehead, with an apologetic smile. "I always forget to introduce myself." Peter Pan." he lifted his arm, brushing the lace collar of her dress.  
"She's not even an orphan!" Wendy heard one of them say, who had approached her. "We can not let her stay here!"  
That tone had something aggressive and above all contemptuous, but Wendy didn’t almost notice that.  
Peter Pan.  
Peter Pan.  
It was completely different from what she had imagined.  
So, those around her were the Lost Boys. Children abandoned by their loved ones.  
She tried to pull back, but the taller boy, the blond haired one who had dragged her over, gave her a push as soon as she backed away.  
Peter grabbed a lock of Wendy’s hair, looking at it with curiosity, as if it were made of an unknown material to him. He twisted it between his fingers, then asked her with a grin: "Rufio is right, I bet you have a family that coddles you without making you miss anything... How many hours a day does your mother take care of your hair like this?"  
Wendy would have long wanted to scream at him, against his insolence and derision. How was he allowed to give her a spoiled girl without even knowing her?  
She really didn’t understand why they were laughing at her, but one thing was certain, and she had proof of it: fairy tales might also have been true, but the characters that populated them were not.  
This wasn’t the playful boy, keeper of innumerable joys that no other child was allowed to know, as the books taught. No, his dark green eyes were overwhelmed by threatening shadows, leaving no room for anything remotely reassuring.  
"Certainly more than yours spent to teach you good manners."  
Wendy just had time to conclude the answer, that the other guy - what was his name? Rufio? - grabbed her by the hair, making her wince with pain, and the girl instinctively brought her hands to his wrist, in a vain attempt to make him lose the grip.  
"I propose," he began, tugging "to give her to the mermaids, and let them fix it."  
"She couldn’t stay here anyway." another boy came in. "What do we do with her?"  
Wendy didn’t want to stay there. Time seemed to run with too much slowness, like sand in an hourglass suspended in the water.  
She wanted to go home, even though she started having trouble to remember it.  
Yet she was there for half a day... or maybe not?  
Impossible to be sure, for a simple reason. The whole island was hidden by leagues and leagues of forests, populated by strange creatures. Wendy had already heard their complaints; it was enough to go into the woods a little, to say goodbye to the light of day and to let herselves be hugged by the darkness.  
"Are these your brothers?"  
It took a few seconds for Wendy to realize that Peter had collected something from the ground, and now he was showing it to her. It was her pendant. She must have lost it when she fell and it opened up, revealing a black and white photo on one side, showing Wendywith John and Michael.  
The other side was still empty. Wendy was going to put a small portrait of Baelfire, but the boy had been with them for just over three weeks, so she hadn’t had the chance.  
Not getting an answer, the boy asked her again: "Who is this place for?", tapping his forefinger towards the empty half of the oval casket.  
"Leave me!" The girl screamed, wriggling to escape Rufio's grip.  
"You know, maybe we could do as you suggested," Peter offered with a smile as he closed the pendant in a hurry, returning it to the girl. "Now I'll call the Shadow, so you can go home."  
The girl stopped fidgeting, staring at him with surprise and relief.  
"Seriously...?"  
"Sure!" Peter exclaimed with a smile "And in return, one of your brothers will take your place."  
Wendy's eyes widened in terror.  
"What, one of my ...? No. No!" she stattered, returning to wriggle "They have nothing to do with this... you do not have to touch them!"  
"But they will have fun, here!" The tall blond boy interjected, who until that moment had remained silent. He joined Pan, staring at her with mendacious eyes "They will be happy, they will never have to think about the things of the grown ups, they will learn to hunt, fight and fly, they will see wonderful things and they will not want to leave."  
It was true, everything he had just said was damn true.  
She herself had had, even if for a short while, the feeling that this was her perfect world. She had flown over an endless ocean, listened to the mermaids songs, had seen the fairies in the woods and played with the other children brought to the island after her.  
But all this happened _before_ the mermaids, once she went close, tried to drown her; _before_ discovering that some fairies created hidden paths with their light, that led to endless precipices, only to laugh when they saw children fall down, since only their dust could grant the power to fly; and, above all, _before_ the Shadow became violent, as soon as one of the children tried to leave the island.  
The Shadow did not allow anyone to leave. Wendy had seen him with her eyes grasping some children’s shadows and hold them tight, so that even the poor unfortunates were forced to remain motionless, crying and crying unnecessarily.  
"We are a family" she hissed "No one will tear us apart!"  
"You think so?" Peter challenged her "We'll see it, tomorrow night."  
He brought two fingers to the corners of his mouth, making a whistle to the sky. And then, panic seized Wendy.  
John.  
Michael.  
The next night, she would never seen one of them again.  
Her knees gave way and when the boy decided to leave her, she found herself on the ground for the second time, aware that soon even her crying would be joined to that of the other children.  
"It will come at any moment. You take care of her, I'm going to welcome the new arrivals. " Peter concluded, then turned, disappearing into the bush.  
Only when he left, Wendy managed to unblock, starting to think clearly.  
He was coming, the Shadow would soon reappear, and then she couldn’t have done anything to save his brothers.  
She only had a few moments.  
Her hand hesitantly leaned on a large boulder protruding from the dirt, when Rufio bent down, grabbing her arm.  
"Get up."  
_Nobody will hurt my brothers._  
A lightning-fast movement of the arm, and Wendy hit the boy's face with the stone, as hard as she could.  
Rufio collapsed on his knees, covering with his hands a temple from which they had already taken to pass scarlet drops, and moaning in pain; but Wendy had already started running, far from the camp, directioned of the forest.  
She felt the breath of an arrow caressing her cheek, while another was stuck in the ground, a couple of meters away from her. Another arrow hit the trunk of a tree she had just passed.  
Wendy continued to run, without stopping and paying no attention to pebbles and stumps that hurt her bare feet, she ran, only thinking that this would have saved Michael and John.  
The more she ventured into that dark forest, the more the air became cold and the vegetation became wilder and wilder.  
Wendy opened a passage, breaking with her hands several wet vines, similar to horrid black snakes, and continued to move forward, looking for how much she could orient herself.  
She didn’t slow down even when the sound of the steps and the voices of the Lost Boys who were behind her dissolved a few minutes ago, and finally found herself alone, in a complete darkness.  
Somewhere between the tallest branches, a nocturnal bird emitted sharp, repetitive lines.  
Wendy wiped her tears with her shirt sleeve, continuing to advance.  
She would have done it.  
She would have come out of that situation... it was impossible that the only way to leave that island-trap was through the Shadow!  
She had to reach the coast. When she arrived to Neverland, before setting foot on the beach, she had glimpsed a ship that had run aground near a group of rocks.  
Sailors? Pirates?  
She knew it was a risk, but it was always better than being in the hands of the Lost Boys and of their bows.  
She had to find a weapon, too, and reach that ship as soon as possible, praying that it was still there.

* *

"Why did you make us stop?! We will lose the tracks!" Rufio growled, pointing with one arm the dark forest that stretched everywhere around them.  
"Because that little girl is too small and light, we don’t risk to lose her track, because she hasn’t left one; because in this way we would only waste time and arrows, because we have to keep an eye on all the other children and because if you don’t stop that hemorrhage you will bleed to death. "was the laconic reply of the blond boy, while he signaled to all his companions to let the chase go and return to the camp.  
Rufio crouched down on a flat boulder, moaning when he touched the abrasion on his temple.  
Who’d have thought such a innocent young girl could react like that?  
He grasped a piece of cloth the other boy was passing him, and pressed it to the wound.  
"Peter must be informed."  
"Do we really need to do it?" Rufio snapped "Why can not we take care of it? She’s just a brat!"  
"Yes, who almost split your head in two parts" the other replied, picking up a stone from the ground and using it to sharpen a dagger.  
"Felix..." he started to protest, when a dizziness forced him to give up "I wasn’t expect it."  
"Neither was I. This must be the much discussed fraternal love," concluded the blond, sheathing his dagger. He turned his head to the bush. "I'm going to warn Peter, the Shadow will find her, as long as Dreamshade doesn’t beat him over time, since this part of the forest is full of it."  
"Whether she ran into the Dreamshade, or into fairies, or into me..." Rufio concluded, getting up again "that little girl in there, alone, won’t last beyond dawn." 

Continue...


	2. Hide and Seek

She had to stop, damn it.  
Out there it was too dark and for countless minutes she had done nothing but run blindly, kicking through the shrubs of brambles and pebbles protruding treacherously from the ground, like the roots of the trees and ... oh my God, maybe she had even put a foot on the corpse of a rat, or a squirrel. She had felt the familiarity of the fur, the rigid and cold little body, and had suddenly assailed a countenance that had made her put a wrong foot, over a twisted root that protruded from the earth.  
Although she had tried to keep her balance, she ended up on the ground, beating her knees and scratching her palms and elbows. And maybe even the face. Impossible to notice it, in that darkness.  
Wendy coughed, shivering with cold and pain. The girl didn’t have the courage to feel her knees with the fingers, they burned, good heavens, they burned to death.  
And she was scared.  
The ship, I have to get to the ship, she though every ten seconds, so as not to panic and not forget why she’d entered that part of the island. The vessel was in front of her, she just had to go straight for a while, and eventually she would find it right in front of her, so at the end, that forest could not continue indefinitely... from the outside the distance had seemed a lot shorter, but after all that was Neverland.  
Suddenly, in the soul of the girl terror turned on: what if Peter Pan had the power to shape the island as he pleased? And what if that expanse of trees that obscured the stars had gone on forever? Like a living trap, in which she had been locked up.   
She thought of the last thing he had said to her brothers, before disappearing, hand in hand with the Shadow, that last night; she didn’t kiss Michael, and she told John that he was a fool, that she couldn’t wait to get a room she would not share with him anymore, because during the pillow fight he had ruined one of her best illustrated books, skewing the back of the cover. _I told him to be careful,_ she kept repeating herself, as if her mind was trying to protect herself, providing a pathetic justification for not feeling worse than she already was. Her eyes filled with tears, as she wore her knees to her chest, hiding her face. _I told him to be careful... I... oh, John, I'm so sorry!_  
"Hey, squirt, where are you hiding?"  
That raucous and menacing voice had the power to make her wake up and come back in a fraction of a second. Wendy stood up, and then her eyes were wide; she miraculously managed to close her mouth in time, stifling the painful lament she had thrown, because of the wounded ankle.  
She began to walk, limping and trying to make as little noise as possible, as she rummaged through the dark mass of twisted branches of the trees; they looked like skeletal arms, ready to grab her as soon as she was distracted.  
"I didn’t know it was a hide-and-seek challenge... fine for me, I love games. I've always found funny shooting blindly, someone usually has more luck hitting the target like that, you knew that?" laughed his pursuer. Wendy reflexively went faster, doing everything to not listen to him. He wanted to scare her, and heck if he was succeeding. The voice came from a point more or less far to her left.  
The girl walked as fast as she could, slipping on the moss and stumbling over the wet boulders. But when she put her foot on something pointed and protruding, a strangled cry escaped her, causing her to bend to the knees.   
_Get up! Now!,_ she shouted to herself. _Surely he heard you, if you don’t move it's over!_  
Who knows where she found the strength to do it... yet, she succeeded. Wendy helped herself with the hands, grabbing branches and leaning on the trunks, always trying to continue straight ahead.  
And then, that evil voice, she heard it again, this time behind her.  
"You know, the first rule you have to follow when your trying to hide yourself, is never to be upwind, your scent is leading me to you, I'm practically walking with my eyes closed."  
Wendy glanced over her shoulder, but as she imagined, she could’nt make out anything. Somewhere above her head an owl howled. In one of her storybooks it was written that the owls were a harbinger of death.  
Maybe it was announcing hers ... considering what the derisive male voice shouted to her, no longer behind the girl now, but somewhere, around her: "Shall we begin with the first arrow?"  
The next moment, Wendy could have sworn, she heard a breath of air and a hissing light, but at the same time piercing, caressing her ear, and then stick violently in the trunk of the tree on which she had just placed a hand to keep herself in balance. The tip had taken a part of her nightgown, holding it there. Wendy grabbed the arrow with the other hand, pulling with all her strenght, unsuccessfully. Then she began to pull hard the fabric, to make it give way: by now the panic had become the vulture on her shoulder, her heart was beating so fast that it could explode at any moment.  
"Oh, why don’t you stop holding out and jut give us one of your brothers?" shouted the same voice.  
"You still have another one, don’t you? Surely you’ll not miss him! "Another added, on the opposite side.  
"Pleaaaaaaaaaase!" They all concluded together, in a sort of echo that turned into a sadistic laugh that made her skin crawl. They were everywhere, they surrounded her.  
Finally the fabric gave way with a tear and the girl began to run, ignoring the throbbing pain in her foot, and the sharp stones, the furrows in the ground, the moss, the frost, the wind that seemed to push her backwards. Wendy ignored all this ... until she came to a clearing that seemed to break the forest in half. A strip of dark ground, with few bushes and bushes, which stretched for several meters, before the thick of the wood came back to take hold. The doubt assailed Wendy's mind for a moment: since she had freed herself of the arrow that kept her locked, she had only bothered to run, regardless of the direction ... oh, no. And now? Crossing the clearing and continuing was the right thing to do?  
Unfortunately she didn’t even have time to think about it, since it was a frantic patter behind her which decided for her, and the young Darling threw herself headlong into the middle of the clearing, without any vegetation to make her shelter or hiding.  
In fact, she realized what a bad choice she had made, when she heard on the other side, among the trees she was willing to reach, some giggles. The girl abruptly stopped, backing away disoriented.  
"Second rule to win hide and seek: _stay hidden._ " Was the quiet and mocking comment behind her.  
Wendy turned and what she saw risked making her a heart attack: the boy she had first struck with the stone, Rufio – yes, that voice looked familiar, to her - had come out into the open, a bow in his hand, with the arrow ready, stretched towards her.   
He delighted of her desperate expression, and grinned. "Let's see if you're as smart as you look: do you think you have been lucky, before?" The grin widened, when he added: "Or am I to have missed you, on purpose?"  
"Stop, stop, no, please ..." she stammered, jerking her hands to her face, as if to protect herself, waiting for a fatal blow that didn’t yet come. She stepped back, stumbling over her own feet in fear. She managed to keep balance, but the boy approached twice as fast as her.  
"I want an answer," Rufio chanted, probably imitating Wendy's voice. "Don’t interfere, she's mine!" He added with his real voice, behind the girl, probably turned to the boys who had gone into the forest with him. "I promised Felix I’d be happy to let the fairies or the Dreamshade ending you ... but then something funny crossed my mind, perhaps so obvious that nobody thought of it: you're a girl. " he said, as if it were some kind of secret" You and your perfumes ... anyone would be able to find you from the other side of the world. And yours, I confess, is particularly inviting. "he whispered, with a tone Wendy didn’t like at all. "Come on, answer the question."  
"I beg you, stop it! I’ll do anything, I promise, but don’t hurt m-"  
"Answer, you pathetic weepy brat!"  
"On purpose!" She replied quickly, alarmed by that angry tone. But then her eyes widened "But you can’t kill me ..." her voice faded. Wendy made another attempt "Peter, first, said he wants the exchange, he ordered you to watch me, he wants the Shadow to bring me back. What would he do to you, if you killed me?"   
For several seconds, Rufio did not answer. He put the arrow away and dropped the bow to the ground.  
But Wendy didn’t have time to breathe a sigh of relief, that the boy pulled a knife from the cloak lining, repeating: "I seem to remember only that he said to wait for the Shadow to take you away. Which, of course, means that you stay alive ... but not necessarily all in one piece. "  
His voice was like a long, broken nail passed over the skin. Caressing, but at the same time scratchy and dangerous. And when he went after her, holding his arm around the girl’s neck, Wendy could do nothing.  
"And for the record, squirt, you owe me your blood!" He hissed in her ear, probably referring to the crimson drops encrusted on his forehead, near the point where she had struck him with the stone.  
Wendy was immobilized. The boy's chest pressed against her back, while his arm gripped her in a grip worthy of a snake; the girl held her hands tight around that arm, in a vain attempt to make him lose his grip, to be able to breathe. It was clear that Rufio enjoyed all that terror, as if that act of cruelty was pure ecstasy for him.  
Before that night Wendy would never believed such repugnant people existed.  
"Where shall we begin ..." he questioned himself, wandering with the sharp blade of the dagger over Wendy's body, hesitating undecided on his arms, and then moving to her face. She felt the cold metal caress her cheek, and then the lower lip, and the tears came back to gush, with silent sobs.  
It was such a wrong and horrible scene. A young girl, hardly more than a child, trembling and in tears, prisoner in the grip of a boy, older and stronger than her, who pressed a brilliant blade like a jewel in the moonlight, against that pale and soft throat.   
Yet, Wendy's tears would have touched anyone... but maybe Rufio’s heart was harder than a anything.  
"All right, let's start from the fingers, what do you need ten for?" He chuckled, loosening his grip to grab her hand. And then, for the second time in that incredible and terrifying night, the survival instinct flooded Wendy's soul like a shock of electric current, and she strongly bit Rufio's hand with her teeth.  
Taken aback, the boy backed away with a snarl of pain and surprise, and he lifted the other arm, striking Wendy's face and making her fall.  
Those seconds Rufio took to examine his bleeding hand were enough for Wendy to grab his knife, and run with all the energy she still had, and for the second time she found herself prisoner of the wood.  
She didn’t have to work hard, this time, because the landscape was changing. The trees were increasingly thin and skeletal and the ground left space to the rocks. Within minutes, Wendy found herself on top of a cliff.  
An exclamation of joy escaped at the sight of the ship, not far from the earth. From there, she could see the light of the torches, a sign that the vessel was not abandoned. But the smile died on her lips when she glanced down. The waves crashed on whole groups of jagged rocks, even if she had thrown she’d not have managed to avoid them, both in the fall and under the waves. And getting out of there was out of the question, she would never have had the time, just as she could not go back.  
When the girl heard a twig breaking behind her, she turned.  
Rufio had reached her. He raised his bow to take aim; there was no need for words because Wendy understood that this time he wouldn’t stop; the expression of hate on the boy's face spoke for him, he wanted to kill her.   
The girl took a step back and suddenly felt the ground failing beneath her feet. She tried to lean forward, spreading arms as Rufio shot the arrow.  
But Wendy, with a scream, had already fallen.  
The elder Darling closed the eyes, and the last face she thought of while the impact with the water became imminent, was her mother’s.

**

"Captain, you should come and see."  
"Smee. How many times do I have to tell you to leave me alone when you see me bringing down three bottles of rums below deck?"  
"No, Captain, you don’t understand! You have to come and see, now!"  
Killian kicked at the stool on which he had held a dangling leg for as long as he had managed to drain the first bottles, his thoughts as this only company. Unfortunately, he had only arrived at the second, when his first officer claimed his presence. Muttering something between his teeth, Killian jumped up the steps that led to the bow of the Jolly Roger, wondering who was at the service of whom.  
The bad mood passed over him, as well as the desire to drown the umpteenth night in that hell called Neverland, letting himself lulled by alcohol.  
His men had gathered in a circle around a young girl, soaked and shaking wet, bruised and bruised, especially in the hands and legs.  
The pirates had surrounded her with curiosity, and there were those who stretched out a hand, perplexedly touching the strange white and light dress the young woman was wearing, and who instead focused the attention on the jewel she wore around her neck. One of his most greedy men, in fact, did not waist any time when he leaned over her, taking possession of the silver chain. The girl immediately tried to take it back, but the men reacted, blocking her arms and she screamed in fear.  
"Now, enough!" Hook shut them all, making his way. He didn’t need to push; as soon as they noticed his presence, the sailors opened a gap in front of their captain.  
"We found her at sea, sir, she was swimming hard to the ship."  
"Which side was she coming from?"   
"From the island, Captain."  
At those words, Hook glanced with indignation and concern at Peter Pan's land; nothing good ever came from over there, and with high probability, that wounded, shocked-looking maiden made no exception. Nevertheless, he knelt down, speaking in a low voice, only to her: "My name is Hook, I am the captain of this ship, but for young ladies, Killian will be more than good, all right?" he winked at her. The tone was reassuring, but the girl did not answer right away. Her big eyes roamed everywhere, relentlessly, on the rude and not reassuring faces of the other men.  
Killian decided to cut the pathetic show. "Can you stand up?" He asked.  
Wendy brought attention to him, swallowing the effort when she tried to get up. "No" surrendered at the end, with a whisper.  
Then Killian grasped her gently, taking her in his arms, under the eyes, now no longer interested, of his crew.  
Once below deck, he laid her on a chest, turning to look for a clean gauze. "Bloody hell, as if I didn’t have enough grains ... I needed you too; I take this opportunity to emphasize how lucky you are, to be finished on my ship, not all the pirates would waste their rum to disinfect your wounds-" he stopped talking when, turning around, he saw the girl standing at a distance, with a dagger pointed at him.  
The pirate sighed, lowering the gauze soaked in alcohol and staring at her, very seriously. "Do you know at least how to use that weapon, before pointing it against someone like me?"  
"I don’t want to cause any problem, nor even hurt someone" the voice of the stranger was weak and trembling, and she spoke quickly "But I don’t trust you at all! No, stay away from me! What do you want to do with me? "   
Killian raised his eyes to the sky, wondering where to start: "Well, for example, a couple of answers about why a little lady is in Neverland all alone, it would be a good start, and I'd rather if you put at least a blanket on, and I say this in your interest, sweetness. I will be a pirate, but I am still a gentleman and you have nothing to fear from me, but I cannot guarantee the same for those up there. "  
The words of the raven-haired young man led Wendy to look down at her nightgown, if she could still call it a nightgown. Dirty of mud and blood, torn, and with a pair of skipped buttons. Besides, Wendy was soaking, and the fabric had glued to her slim little body, making her imagine what she looked like at the moment. Swallowing shame and awareness of the meaning hidden between the lines, in the words of that Killian, she quickly grabbed the heavy blanket that the man handed her, covering herself in silence.  
She didn’t say anything even when the man took the dagger from her hand, resting it on a wooden table with worn edges, next to some bottles of rum.  
"Good girl, now why don’t you explain how you came to this hellish place, while I'm trying to do something for your foot?"  
That pirate frightened her, as much as his ice-colored eyes and that sharp hook that he had in place of his left hand. Still, she felt something else. Who knows, maybe it was really his refined ways - she couldn’t find another adjective to define them - so different from those of his subordinates, to induce her to open up. Not that she had many alternatives, then.  
So, while Killian pressed the gauze against the dirty wound, she began to talk. 

 

It was a long and meticulous medication, even if sometimes Killian stopped pouring alcohol on the cuts of the little Darling, to take a drink, under the Wendy’s stunned look, who nevertheless told him all that long night, and then beg him with appealing eyes, to bring her home.  
"Well, angel, do you want a honest opinion? You’ve been very silly."  
Wendy stared at him in disbelief, wondering if all that rum made him lose his mind, but Killian added: "You already had a way to get home, and it was Pan himself who conceded it to you, bloody hell, you don’t have the slightest idea of what I could give to be able to come and go freely from this place without his permission, but you threw the opportunity to the wind for what, frankly, seems to me a lost cause. "  
"Are you telling me nobody is allowed to leave here?"  
"Not without him. Anything landed on the island, belongs to him; which makes me think ..." the pirate murmured immediately after, casting a vague glance towards the bow of the ship "... they'll be looking for you. They won’t be long. "  
He barely had time to conclude that sentence, which from the outside they heard the alarm sound of a bell, from the lookout tower.  
Wendy's heart lost a beat.  
Hook stood up slowly, looking at her. "Well, love. Now what should I do with you now?"  
"Please!" Exclaimed Wendy, grabbing his one hand, and hugging her with fear, while the panic crawled back into her chest, fast and painful "I'll do anything you want, I promise. I'll owe you, but please don’t ... please ... don’t take me back to him!”  
She left the pirate's hand, who didn’t answer. He stared at her, frowning. Wendy could almost perceive Killian's thoughts as he considered all the possible consequences that could have happened, in case he have decided to hide her presence from the Lost Boys  
The captain turned, moving quickly toward the table, murmuring something like: "I already know that I will regret it ...", too feeble for Wendy to hear.  
He returned to her, putting the dagger in girl’s hands. "Keep it that way," he hastily said, showing her the firmest grip, without allowing her to ask for any explanation. "And always hit from top to bottom, so you will use more force." He paused, looking into her eyes "Now I go upstairs. Hide and shut up, and if things go wrong, use it." 

 

**

 

"If you came to drink, then be my guests!" Was Killian's comment, once he found himself in front of Felix. With him there was Rufio, and two other hooded-faced guys.  
"We're looking for a girl." Felix spoke with that quiet and mystified tone, which (Kilian would never admit it aloud, but) made him cringe. Wispy blond hair emerged from under the hood, and his eyes seemed to warn him that he had no desire to waste time.  
Hook hesitated, rubbing his arm thoughtfully, as he glanced at the other members of his crew around him. "Well, wow, I admit it's interesting, especially from you, but I'm afraid there's not much choice on my ship," he replied, accompanied by the scornful laughter of his sailors.  
Felix's face didn’t betray the slightest expression. "Have you seen her, Captain?"  
"Actually, Smee recently told me about a mermaid that seems to often wander around the Jolly Rog-"  
"She is human."  
Killian left the sentence unresolved, looking one by one the companions of Pan's right arm. " I see... is she pretty?"  
"She’s ours." The tone had grown more impatient now.  
"Well, if you put it this way, if there was a girl on my ship I guarantee you that I would be aware." Tell me Rufio, did she do this to you? "He added, raising his voice to the bloody-faced boy, who stood behind Felix, and whose furious reaction was not long in coming.  
"He’s lying! I saw her swimming towards the ship, he must have hidden her somewhere!" He accused, pointing at him "Let’s check everywhere, she’s ..."  
"Shut up, you!" Felix hissed, turning in his direction. Hook didn’t see the blond's eyes, but apparently they were enough to convince Rufio to return to his place, no more speaking. "I've had enough of you for tonight." Felix concluded, before turning his attention back to the pirate. "In case you saw her, bring her to us.”  
"Now the smuggling has also extended to the girls? I thought he was only interested in boys"Hook said, when Felix's companions began to leave the ship, until he remained alone, who turned to his interlocutor, a thin and slimy grin on his face.  
"Indeed." Was all he replied, leaving aside that they were not affairs that concerned him in any way. Then, as he was about to climb over the parapet, he stopped, turning back. But he wasn’t looking at Killian; he kept his eyes on something behind him, and for several seconds no one spoke. Finally, Felix's gaze returned one last time to Killian, with a smile, if possible, even more sinister. "I don’t need to remind you, Captain ... what happens to those who plot against Pan, or who hide something that belongs to him.”  
"There's no need, in fact." Killian sharply answered, glancing at him sideways.  
"Better that way. I know you've made an agreement with Pan, and you'll soon leave Neverland to do some of your personal affairs," he said, almost mockingly. Hook gave him a mean look. He was one of the oldest, but in his eyes he would always remain a pathetic, insolent boy. How many times he had dreamed of putting the hook in his eyes ... "But you do not have to worry, Captain ... You will leave this ship, very ... very ... soon."  
Killian didn’t have time to evaluate the real meaning of that threat, which even the last Lost Boy disappeared in the darkness of the night. The captain of the Jolly Roger took a moment to close his eyes and sigh.  
"Captain" of course Smee didn’t waste time "are you sure of what you have just done? There is so little left on our departure from this cursed place, why risking for that little girl?  
Why?  
Yeah, very good question. Killian decided it was really time to change habits. Not that his passion for weak sex was a secret, and seeing that little girl cry and begging him ... had acted without thinking, driven by compassion.  
He turned to his first officer to answer, when his gaze was caught by a gleam in the hand of one of the sailors; perhaps, just the man who had attracted Felix's attention.  
Hook followed the lick in the man's hand and let out an oath, while consciousness took shape in his mind: that's why Felix threatened him. The boy knew that it was he who kept Wendy hidden when he recognized the silver girl’s pendant that fool was still holding in his hand. 

continue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooo, do you like Rufio? ahaha  
> See you soon (I hope) with the next chapter,  
> thanks
> 
> LL


	3. It won't let you die.

Wendy was awakened by the lapping of foamy waves crashing against the wood of the ship. She yawned, stretching under the covers. The pirate had given her his cabin last night, after the unfortunate appearance of Pan's henchmen.  
Wendy's eyes widened. Pan!!  
She immediately pulled herself to her feet, risking to slam her head against the ceiling of the captain's cabin, before recovering one of the blankets, wrapping it around her, since she was still in her nightgown. At least it was dry, now.  
She went upstairs and was not very surprised to see all the pirates already standing, carrying out various maintenance activities on the ship. Killian stood at the helm, intent on fiddling with a compass. He didn’t notice her when she reached him.  
"Captain?" Sheshyly called him, making him turn. The dark shadow in the man's eyes did not escape her. Probably she had just interrupted a deep thought, since whatever he was thinking, Killian didn’t seem in a good mood at all.  
"Good morning, angel" he smiled at her, making a sign to sit on a wooden bench next to the mast.  
Wendy took a deep breath before speaking.   
"Last night I was too upset and I didn’t do it, but I would really like to thank you for all you did for me, for having treated my foot and, well ... for covering me."  
She expected the captain to smile, with one of his charming and mocking sneers, perhaps making some dirty jokes against the Lost Boys, instead he nodded seriously, answering:"Duty."  
Wendy frowned. "Are you alright, Captain?"  
"You can use my name, Wendy."  
The girl felt herself blushing when she caught Killian's ice look on her. "Well, then. Are you alright, Killian?"  
The pirate put his one hand to his face, rubbing his forehead. "You know, love, that I cannot keep you here?"  
That question instead, she was expecting that. This is why she answered with a very decisive voice: "Yes, of course. I thought about it tonight and I want to go back to Pan. "  
Hook looked at her, trying to figure out if she was talking seriously.  
"I will propose him a new agreement," the young girl continued, moistening her lips to take courage "instead of going home, I will stay on the Island forever, to serve him. At least in this way he will not harm my family and- "   
"Aye, love ..." Killian interrupted her, raising a hand to silence her. He had numerous thick and valuable silver rings for each finger. "Don't fool yourself that it will work. Pan is only interested in males. Understood? You have no value for him, that's why he will never accept such an exchange. "  
Wendy took a moment, before protesting. Damn it, it was true! Suddenly, a violent flashback from the night before came back to her, when Peter knelt in front of her, peering at her with those stone eyes that seemed to want to pierce her soul, and then murmured: _"Yet the Shadow knew what to do. "_  
The girl shook her head and her wavy, frizzy hair, because of the saltiness and dirt that still crusted them from the night before, bounced on her back, before she clapped her hands on her knees, without losing hope.  
"In that case," she cleared her throat, hoping to appear brave enough. After all, that Killian had shown himself more than gentle with her, without even being obliged to do so. She trusted his words, and perhaps because of that, in her heart, the girl hoped him to suggest a loophole from that nightmare. "What do you propose to do?"  
"Good question. Meanwhile, drink this, "he said, handing her a water bottle that Wendy looked sideways. "You haven’t eaten nor drank anything since yesterday, you need it and don’t make a fuss. Come on, drink. "  
"I'm a girl! I don’t drink that stuff, "Wendy snapped, baffled.  
Killian rolled his eyes "Bloody hell, it's not rum, it's water!"   
With a hint of embarrassment clearly visible on the cheeks, Wendy took the flask, drinking two generous gulps, while the pirate turned his back on her, looking at the blue horizon.  
"Thank you," she said, coughing slightly, ready to bet that before water, in that flask there must have been some poor liquor, considering the strange taste she felt in her mouth.  
Killian didn’t answer.  
"So?" Wendy urged him, while her thoughts ran to her brothers, increasing her anxiety "What should I do? Honestly, I am convinced that a new agreement could still b- "she was forced to stop, abruptly, when a new cough attack surprised her, forcing her to lean forward. The lungs, the lungs were burning. She couldn’t breathe.  
She looked up at the pirate, who had now turned and was looking at her with a pity in his cold eyes, which in less than a second Wendy understood everything.  
 _He poisoned me._  
Fleeting and destructive, that thought was enough to make her cry out in fear and Wendy collapsed on the wooden planks of the ship, trying in vain to get up.  
"Dreamshade is a deadly poison," she heard the pirate say as she watched his black boots slowly approach. All around her began to take on a quick black tinge, until the girl's vision became more and more blurred, causing her to panic. "I have given you just enough to keep you alive the time they need to bring you back to Pan; after that he will heal you. "  
Wendy's eyes began to cry tears, while the girl felt the pirate’s arms help her to sit up. She tried to hit him with all her strength, but Killian's arms squeezed the girl from behind, blocking any movement in what, only a few minutes ago, would have seemed a reassuring hug. A sweet hug. Even intimate.  
It was this, perhaps, that hurt her more than anything else. He had promised. He had made Wendy trust him.  
The little girl felt her lungs collapse, and as she fell into oblivion she heard the last words of the pirate whispering: "They know. They saw that bloody pendant you wore around your neck last night and they’ll come back this evening, for you. And in order not to condemn me and my whole crew to death, I have to show that I am on their side. I'm sorry, love, but it's good for you to know it right away: nobody escapes Peter Pan. " 

**

"Well, well, well ... captain. I was inexplicably convinced that you had decided to no longer address your loyalty to Peter Pan. You always amaze me. " Was what Felix said, once the Lost Boys made their promised appearance on the Jolly Roger, shortly after sunset.  
"I'll take it as a compliment." Was Killian's reply, slowly approaching the boy, with the unarmed girl in his arms.  
The sailors remained behind him, in the most tense silence, and Killian knew why; the fear of the unknown in the air was so heavy that it could be cut off with a sword. The crew feared a sudden attack by the servants of Pan, that was why each of the sailors held a weapon in their hand, with the collective hope of not having to resort to it.  
Killian decided to cut short while he reached Felix and Rufio, who was standing just behind the blond one, as always. "I give you the girl back, and we're good, right?"  
"Dreamshade poisoning?" Felix noted, delighted, watching the gray and blue veins clearly visible on the girl's neck.  
"That's right, so you'll be better to give her the antidote by midnight, she’s already weaker than I thought," Killian replied, gesturing for Wendy's slender, sleepy body. A gesture that stopped almost immediately, when Felix retorted that, no, no antidote, Pan had other plans for her.  
Rufio's cruel face opened in a sadistic grin and Killian tightened his jaw at those words.   
"What other projects? Without antidote, the only other possible project for this girl will be death ... "  
"Precisely, captain. This ... Wendy, caused us more than one problem, last night. And we don’t need such nuisances, you understand me. The effect of Dreamshade will run its course and the Shadow will return tomorrow night, with one of her brothers. It will be all the same again, as before. Give her to me. "  
But Killian didn’t move. With a sigh of resignation, he lowered his eyes to look at the face he would never see again, and while his mind kept telling him that, yes, he had done the most logic thing by ensuring the safety of his crew and himself, his heart ached at the sight of that girl asleep in his arms, with long caramel-colored hair that fell over her white robe, making her look like a princess.  
For a moment he thought of Milah; then Felix's arms replaced his and Killian felt an unpleasant feeling of emptiness when he saw the Lost Boys turn and disappear over the ship's railing, embraced by obscurity.

**

What made her wake up?  
The gust of warm wind, carried by the embers of the giant bonfire in front of her?  
The screams and the cries of the Lost Boys who - Wendy took several seconds to clear her minds - were dancing around the fire in the grip of a ferocious riot?  
She didn’t know and didn’t care, because in less than two seconds the girl was assaulted by a stomach cramp that almost made her retch.  
She felt her lungs ablaze and a pain that started from the throat and spread to all the limbs of her body, as if ...  
Her eyes widened.  
Killian. The Dreamshade. The deal.  
She remembered everything, while the poison was corroding her from the inside, causing her to cough, desperately. The ground beneath her hands was black and dry.  
But when she noticed the crouched presence on the heels at her side, she jumped back, painfully beating the back against the trunk of a felled tree.  
"I must compliment you. You have more courage than at least ten Lost Boys caught randomly among all of them. "Peter admitted in a sarcastic smile, making a vague gesture to the boys who danced like mad at his back. "You know, we don’t have kings, here in Neverland. And even if there was one, that would be me, but ... seeing what you're made of, you could have be the perfect queen. You could have been."  
He shook his head, absently watching the forest that dominated all around them. Some part of Wendy would have given everything to know what the hell that monster was thinking at the time.   
The other part, the one that, despite the desire to abandon herself to death that was becoming more imminent every more minute, still wanted to save her brothers, reacted. She took with incredible effort a hand to grab Peter's, to claim his attention. "Please, listen to me," Wendy said, trying to keep her eyes open. "Can we make a new deal? I only want-"  
"I'm not interested." Pan slipped his hand out of the girl’s faint grip, and then stood up.  
"No!" Wendy tried to say, before collapsing back to the ground. She rolled on the back, exhausted, putting a hand to her mouth to stop a violent coughing that took her breath away. When she withdrew the hand, she saw drops of blood on her palm, and then she panicked.  
They had left her there, to die. Nobody cared. Neither to those boys who danced, nor to their master.  
 _I don’t want to die like this._  
It was not right. Like so many things, on that island of nightmares and deception. But now it didn’t matter anymore. Wendy struggled with her last strength to stay awake - to stay alive - but Dreamshade was claiming her soul and deep down, the warm warmth of the fire on her face was a good feeling, before the end ...  
Meanwhile, Peter had moved away from the girl to grab the flute and start a new melody. "Let's give a shake to this evening, what do you think ?!" He shouted, under the excited exclamations of the Lost Boys, but a moment before his lips touched the instrument, the Shadow made his appearance, immediately throwing on the girl's helpless body.   
"What's up?"  
The shadow pointed at Wendy with a finger.  
Peter chuckled. "What, do you want me to play her a last lullaby?"  
In a blink of an eye, the Shadow was a few inches away from his face; it shook the head, pushing him toward the child.  
"Umbelievable…! Tell me, what's wrong with you? "Peter snorted, challenging it with his eyes waiting for an answer that did not come. He turned his head to Wendy, trying to figure out what the point was, the reason why his own shadow would dare to stand against him. And for whom, then? For her?  
He threw the flute on the ground with an indignant air, then quickly reached the girl.  
"Hold on, child. You had a deal to propose to me, if I'm not mistaken. "Peter sat behind her, making sure that the girl's back rested on his chest, then the boy pulled off a tiny glass vial he was hanging from a cord around his neck, pulling the cap away with the teeth. Then he poured the water inside it into Wendy's mouth, holding her head tilted until he was sure she had drank it.  
In fact, the effect of the antidote didn’t take long to show itself; Wendy's body jerked, before the girl opened her eyes, shaking her head slowly, and confused.   
"Welcome back, Wendy Darling." Peter whispered in her ear, the shadow of a grin crossing his eternal boy's face. A grin that Wendy didn’t see, still too bewildered by the poison, which caused her to fever. In fact, without realizing it, she started talking ...  
"Baelfire was right ..."  
It was nothing more than a whisper, but Peter heard it. Frowning, he moved just to bring Wendy's face closer and asked her: "Baelfire?"  
The girl seemed not to have heard it, and continued: "He told me ... that magic always comes with a price ..."  
Peter's green eyes flashed across, and a smile took shape on his lips.  
"Shh," he murmured, clutching Wendy, then stroking her hair, "you'll see your mother and father, and your little brothers. I promise you. But first "the smile grew stronger, when on the other side of the bonfire, Felix intercepted the look of his master and with a quick nod - he knew him so well that he needed a glance to understand what Peter wanted - disappeared among the trees, to carry out the will of Peter. "First tell me about Baelfire."  
And Wendy did it. She revealed him about the fact that he knew the magic, the evil and obscure one, the same that fed Peter and that permeated the whole island; she told him of Bae’s kindness and his lost family. At least for what little Bae had been able to tell her.  
Peter Pan was listening to her. And he questioned himself.   
"Get off me, I said! Pan! What did you do with- "  
Hook's angry voice faded as his blue eyes rested on Wendy, now standing, looking at the pirate with her wide eyes.  
Killian let his gaze wander between the girl and Peter, several times, then he murmured: "... You're alive."  
"You're not welcome here." Hissed one of Pan's boys, smearing a spear.  
"Go away." added another, calmly.  
"Captain, I wasn’t expecting you. No end to the surprises, this night! "Peter exulted, turning to Killian, and then raised an eyebrow with a look of amazement and derision at the same time" I guess the visit is due to your sense of guilt. To be a pirate, you have a slightly too soft heart. "  
The pirate in question took a step towards him, still confused "I don’t understand, you said that ..."  
"... she wasn’t useful to me, anymore." The boy concluded, and then glanced at the girl, who barely flinched at those words. "But luckily for her, someone made me change my mind. Don’t be afraid captain, Wendy will not die tonight. I'm afraid I judged you too fast, "he added, approaching her with a smile." So I'm afraid, Captain, that you’ve made a useless voyage. "  
Killian clenched his jaw, though relieved to see the child unharmed, but before he could say anything, the terror overwhelmed him when he saw the next scene.   
Without Wendy couldn’t do anything to avoid it, Peter grabbed her and with an expert and ruthless gesture, he buried a hand in her chest, and then pulled out her beating heart.  
Wendy's scream was the chillest thing the Lost Boys had ever heard; Peter left her and turned the little girl's bright heart, with a satisfied expression.  
"Fragile and immaculate. Just like her. Isn’t it lovely, Killian? "Said the demon, turning to the man who, petrified, could no longer see Wendy in front of him. He saw Milah. The beautiful woman to whom he had given his heart, and whose heart had been violently torn away by cruel and ignoble hands, bright in front of his eyes. A gruesome scene, which had just been repeated. Again.  
The pirate's eyes filled with angry tears when Killian, without even realizing what he was doing, drew his sword to throw himself against the boy.  
" _You, bastard!_ " - never finished that race, because suddenly, three of the older boys were on him, blocking him on the ground and disarming him.  
"Come on, Captain, you're smarter than that. We are too many and you are alone. And with just one hand, then. "Peter commented, arousing laughter from all his henchmen. "You should thank me, rather. Now that I have Wendy's heart, I will have no problem letting her go home. I'll be able to control her from a distance, and she certainly won’t betray me. Am I right? " hewhispered the last question, clutching the little girl's heart between his fingers; Wendy winced, then nodded, eagerly.  
And then, Killian was also forced to surrender; he looked down, defeated, while he meanwhile cursed that boy with all his soul. 

**

It had been a few minutes since the boys had chased Hook out of the camp, and Wendy rubbed her breast, perplexed, not quite understanding what she was feeling. She felt like ... floating? Yes, like her body was suspended in the middle of an hourglass, and she did not know which direction to take. Which emotion to try.  
Feeling that did not last long, when Peter suddenly appeared next to her.  
"Well, Wendy Darling," he began with an uncanny enthusiasm in his voice, which immediately made her want to be happy. "You're a Lost Girl, now."  
The girl opened her eyes. "Really?"  
"Sure!" Peter handed her a hand, which she grabbed automatically, and as the boy led her to the giant bonfire, he added, "The first one. I’d say that it would be a must to inaugurate our alliance, what do you think, boys? "He shouted to the dancers, who howled by feeding the flames; the more Wendy watched them, the more she felt herself kidnapped by the sound of the drums and the power that came out of those boys at every single jump.  
Then she looked down and saw Peter's flute on the ground. She left the boy's hand, to grab the object, turning it over in her hands. Peter's wild eyes went from the flute to the girl, while a smile appeared on the boy's face.  
Wendy handed it to him, hopeful. "Will you play for me?"  
Peter's smile only widened as he took the instrument out of Wendy's hands, and then came so close that he had the girl's cheek within reach of his lips "Only if you dance for me" was the answer.   
Wendy suddenly felt overwhelmed by an invisible force that – obliged her – invited her to execute that request, and a few moments later she was with the other boys, dancing free from any thought and fear, whirling cradled by the wind and the heat of the flames that seemed to be screaming again, again. Her loose hair reflected the red nuances of the fire as she turned on herself, accompanied by those melancholy and mellifluous notes that Peter had just made up for her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things will become even darker...

**Author's Note:**

> For all those who have arrived at the end, thank you!  
> I wrote this story back in 2013, but I never finished it; only after a good sabbatical I decided to propose it again ... in English! I hope I haven’t made too many grammatical errors, but if so I accept any help, I need to improve my English! ;)  
> So, what do you think? Is it worth continuing the story?  
> I hope you enjoyed the chapter,  
> see you soon,
> 
> LL


End file.
